Philosophy expands students’ worldview and enables them to develop critical-thinking skills. Most importantly, it encourages self-reflection. Learning what a person believes and where those beliefs originated is an important step in the maturation process. Since there is so little philosophy teaching material geared for the secondary level, this unit is intended to fill the void.

The four areas covered within this unit ask basic philosophical questions. Metaphysics asks, “What is the nature of reality?” Epistemology asks, “What is knowledge?” Political philosophy asks, “What is justice?” Ethics asks, “What is the nature of morality?” This unit addresses the allegory of the cave, the nature of reality, Plato, Aristotle, Free Will, Descartes, political philosophers, social contract, ethics, Kant, and more. Lessons are indexed by topics such as world history, American history, psychology, political science, and the humanities, making it easy to find applications to other disciplines. A pronunciation key and a list of supplementary resources are also included.

The elements of great discussion, such as participation, self-reflection, reasoning, and collaboration, naturally evolve during the discourse of philosophic topics. As students answer one another’s questions, build on one another’s explanations, and provide one another with examples, the learning process flourishes.

Teaching philosophy provides opportunities to develop critical-thinking skills, language use, skills to identify and create arguments, an understanding of the world, and the joy of learning. In this unit, students will find that ideas of historic philosophers apply to their lives and their time.